Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Cable Company Wages War on Monsters

Company takes on more monsters than Godzilla in fight to protect trademark

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 4, 2009 8:18 AM CDT

(Newser) – High-end audio cable maker Monster Cable has been taking on every monster it can find in a battle to safeguard its trademark, the Wall Street Journal reports. The company has sued makers of monster-branded products from carpet cleaners to energy drinks, along with job-search site Monster.com, and even the makers of Monsters Inc. in a campaign critics say amounts to monstrous bullying.

The company, saying it is just trying to protect a famous trademark, denies accusations that it’s attempting to corner the market on the word monster. It has fought around 190 monster battles in the patent office and 30 in federal court, but has backed off a few times: One suit against Monster Mini Golf was dropped after it attracted a fearsome amount of bad publicity.

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (2)]

Monster Cable opposed Boston Red Sox trademark applications for merchandise featuring mascot Wally the Green Monster. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

People dressed as monsters advertising toys ride the escalator at the Toy Fair in New York, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

If Monster Cable prevails, the Gila monster will become just another lizard. - Michael Meadors of tabbarone.com, a website that keeps tabs on trademark issues

We do not have a concern if a company is using the word 'monster' in a purely descriptive sense to describe actual monsters.
- David Tognotti, Monster Cable's general manager

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Occupiers Sue NYC Pepper-Spray Cop

Anthony Bologna accused of violating protesters' civil rights

(NEWSER) - Two of the women pepper-sprayed in the face by high-ranking NYPD officer Anthony Bologna last fall are taking him to court. The women say Bologna violated their civil rights, and they're seeking unspecified damages, Reuters reports. A YouTube video of the penned-in women being pepper-sprayed received more than 1.5 million hits and helped draw attention to the Occupy Wall Street movement. More»

Sioux Tribe Sues Beer Makers for $500M

Sellers turning blind eye to smuggling, devastating problem: suit

(NEWSER) - The town of Whiteclay, Nebraska, has only 14 residents, but four beer stores which sell nearly 5 million cans a year. If you think those numbers sound strange, you're paying more attention than beer makers, a lawsuit from the Oglala Sioux Tribe charges. The Pine Ridge reservation—where alcohol is outlawed—is just two miles north of Whiteclay across the state line in South Dakota, and the tribe is suing five major beer makers (Anheuser-Busch InBev, SAB Miller, Molson Coors, MillerCoors, and Pabst) it accuses of knowingly contributing to devastating alcohol problems on the reservation, reports AP . More»

Jobs Site Monster Cutting 400 ... Jobs

That's 7% of positions worldwide

(NEWSER) - It's a layoff announcement with a sad, ironic twist: Monster Worldwide, which runs the online recruitment site and makes job-search software, is itself slashing 400 jobs, reports Reuters . That amounts to 7% of full-time staff. "The progress we saw in the fourth quarter was much slower than what we saw earlier in the year," says CEO Sal Iannuzzi. The company gets half its revenue from within the US, where it's facing increased competition from CareerBuilder and the expanding LinkedIn, notes MarketWatch . More»

Fake Death Scam Surfaces in Cruise Ship Case

Ship sinks, can rats be far behind?

(NEWSER) - The first scam has emerged in an apparent bid for compensation from the operators of crippled cruise liner Costa Concordia. A woman and her boyfriend were arrested in Hungary after falsely reporting two people missing on the ship, according to officials. The scheme was spotted by a New York lawyer who is representing six Hungarian survivors from the wreck. He became suspicious when he was contacted by the woman, who asked how much money she could expect for her missing daughter and granddaughter—and kept modifying her story, reports ABC News . More»

Woman Sues Over Oklahoma 'Slave Marriage'

Diptiben Mistry says she was brought from India to be 'house slave'

(NEWSER) - An Indian woman is suing her in-laws for an arranged "slave marriage" in their Oklahoma home. Diptiben Mistry was a 20-year-old college student in India when she married her Indian husband four years ago and moved with him to live at her in-laws' US home. There, Mistry says, her food was rationed, cell phone use supervised, activities strictly limited, and she was forced to work as a household servant. "They took all of my personal belongings once we got to the US and kept them from me," she said. "For a long time, I told myself that I had to accept the harsh treatment because I was scared." Her in-laws, who had confiscated her passport, even dictated when she could use the bathroom, monitored her every move with a webcam, and abused her physically, according to the complaint. "By engaging in modern-day slavery, the defendants committed abhorrent acts condemned in all civilized countries," states her lawsuit. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Cable Company Wages War on Monsters